Outdoor advertising, sometimes referred to as out-of-home advertising, is focused on marketing to consumers when they are ‘on the go’ in public places, in transit, waiting (such as in a medical office) and/or in specific commercial locations (such as in a retail venue). One example of this are electronic billboards located in retail outlets, typically comprising display devices (e.g., flat-panel display devices, cathode-ray tube display devices, etc.) operated by one or more computers. The computers controlling the display devices cause media content to be presented on the display devices, wherein media content may comprise readable text, still or moving images, or a combination thereof. For example, media content may be in the form of a binary file, storable within the memory of the controlling computer, wherein images and text are encoded with presentation information directing how, when, and in what order the images and text are presented. Examples of such media content are encoded in formats well known in the art, including but not limited to Microsoft® PowerPoint®, AVI, MPEG, Quicktime®, and equivalents. Media content may be stored as a file on a storage medium of the controlling computer, or may be streamed in real-time via a communications network (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN) or the Internet).
The choice of what particular media content is presented on the display device is managed by Content Management Software (CMS) operating on the controlling computer, or alternately a server computer commonly connected to one or more display computers by means of a communications network so as to direct content on a plurality of display devices from a central point.
As the popularity of these out-of-home advertising systems has grown, so has the number of different CMS products to operate them. For example, one CMS system would typically be installed at a site of a retail organization (e.g., a supermarket) for the display of media content of interest to people patronizing the site. The maintenance and operation of the CMS would be provided by either the local or general management of the site. Accordingly, the media content provided on an electronic billboard system on the site will be limited to information about that particular store unless the management directs time and energy to collect additional advertising content from third parties.
Third-party advertising content can potentially generate substantial revenue from sales of advertising time on the organization's advertising system, such as to offset the costs of installing and maintaining the system. Third-party advertising content may also make the display devices more attractive to viewers by providing a greater variety of different and up-to-date media content than the local or general management can provide. However, managing media content created by third-parties, including soliciting third-party content, scheduling updating of third-part content, and addressing compatibility issues with third-party content with the CMS in place, is time-consuming and may involve skills outside the skill-set of the local or regional management.
Thus, there is a need for the capability to provide and manage third-party advertising for out-of-home advertising systems such as in-house electronic billboard systems by means of a remotely managed service. There is also a need for a third-party advertising system that can provide and manage third-party advertising to a plurality of different out-of-home advertising systems deployed at a plurality of different sites. However, the different out-of-home advertising systems and corresponding CMS products operating among different retail organizations and other out-of-home installations vary widely and are typically neither compatible nor interoperable with each other. For example, some CMS applications are commercial products, while others may be custom-designed products developed specially for a particular retail organization, such as by an in-house development team.
Further, out-of-home advertising systems and the CMS products that operate them are typically not adapted to have more than one means for control. Hence, to incorporate third-party content, the in-house management of the electronic billboard system would either have to manage the acquisition, presentation, and rotation of the third-party content themselves, or else would have to provide some form of direct control over their CMS to an independent, off-site manager, which for security, reliability, and other reasons, an in-house manager would be reasonably reluctant to do.
Thus, a need exists for a system and a method that can provide and manage third-party advertising on a remote out-of-home advertising system such as an in-house electronic billboard system via a remotely-controlled system that would be effective regardless of the particular CMS application in operation at a deployment site, such that third-party content can be provided and managed on the out-of-home advertising system remotely, without requiring the direct intervention of in-house management or the modification of the operative CMS system already in place. It is also desirable that the in-house management retain some amount of control over the third-party advertising delivered at the site, such that (for example) the third-party advertising content co-exist well with the incumbent media content of the operative CMS system.